HBO's John Oliver on prison: 'Americans simply can't get enough'

America's prison system was the subject of last weekend's episode of comedian John Oliver's new hit show on HBO, "Last Week Tonight."

The 18-minute segment is embedded below.

Oliver's show has quickly attracted substantial buzz by deftly mixing fact-based reporting on controversial issues with dry humor. In the most recent episode, Oliver gets laughs while pointing out that the U.S. has a larger prison population than China.

"We don't have more of anything than China," he quips, "other than, of course, debt to China."

Many of the issues that are mentioned in Oliver's segment are impacting the lives of thousands of Alabamians. The program raises questions about the rapid growth of the nation's prison population; persistently high recidivism rates, and how they influence the operation of privatized prisons; and the quality of basic services (food, medical care) provided to the incarcerated.

Here's what AL.com reporters have written about the corrections system in Alabama.